The home we just bought has thin fiberboard wallpaper panneling with plastic strips at every seam. There was a fire in the house before it was remodeled in the 80's, and the walls are probably old damaged plaster behind the pannels. I'm afraid if we remove the panneling we will have to sheetrock the entire main floor. Can I remove the strips and skim coat and paint the walls? My Mom tried wallpapering over thin fiber baord panneling and the moisture made the panneling buckle and wave really bad.

We had a similar issue. We got a home that was last redecorated in the 70's. All wood paneling. One wall in the dining room was wallpapered over. We did not get all the paper off and decided to paint over it as is. It did the same thing as your fiberboard. Now it is full of framed pictures to cover the flaws.

As we've done different rooms, we have tried different things. For your case, I would recommend a couple/three solutions.

1> Remove it. Then you can deal with whats there accordingly. Sometimes the worst anser is the best solution. And don't discount old plaster walls just yet. That was, and still is, a very duarable construction method. You may be surprised.

2.> Strip it down as far as you can go without hitting plater. Then hang a heavy duty wall liner over it.

3.> Hang a thin layer of luan sheeting (1/8" plain wood veneer paneling). This will cover the fiber board and give you a clean slate to work with. You can paint over it or paper over it.